Whiting: Iraq war legacy is support from military buddies and civilians

During the first day of the Iraq invasion, Navy corpsmen tend to an Iraqi prisoner wounded as Marines took control of an oil-pumping station in southern Iraq. I didn't know at the time that my photos were the first to hit the wire of actual combat. All I was worried about was making deadline. FILE: MARK AVERY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Ten years after the start of the Iraq War, we can argue about many things – but not about honoring the warriors who had one another's backs and the civilians who supported them.

Michael Villegas, now a mechanic, was with the first wave into Iraq. Like many, he fought his way across the Iraqi desert and into Baghdad. He tells me if he could have a redo, he'd do it all again.

"Looking back," the Marine says, "it was the best time of my life. You can never find that kind of camaraderie."

Many who fought echo those words. Support from military buddies as well as civilians made all the difference in a war that – like many – can be judged only by history.

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When the Iraq War started, my son and his one of his best friends were sophomores at Santa Margarita High School. Today, that friend is two years out of the Marines after serving two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

It was a long and often controversial war. A new Gallup poll shows our nation remains deeply divided about the merits of Operation Iraqi Freedom; 53 percent of Americans believe the war was a mistake.

But this isn't a column about the people who sit behind desks and make policy, the so-called masters of war. This is a column about those who volunteer and those who help.

Ten years ago today, my next-door neighbor, a Marine who served in Vietnam, hung an American and a Marine flag every day. I joined him in flying the Stars and Stripes – as did many in Orange County and across the United States.

Villegas's father and uncle were Marines, and he tells me what I've heard many times while talking to many veterans. After 9/11, and with a strong sense of patriotism, Villegas believed he had one choice – report for duty.

Crossing the Iraqi border, digging holes and fighting their way across the desert, Villegas and his buddies were ambushed during the day and faced mortar fire at night.

When they arrived in Baghdad, they saw smoking governmental palaces and toppled statues of Saddam Hussein – along with bursts of enemy fire. On the civilian population's faces, however, they saw relief.

But Villegas, who works at Certified Tires in Tustin, says he saw something else as well. Concern about the future.

Villegas' second tour was nothing like his relatively tame first tour of duty. On average, he and his buddies faced firefights every other day. In the worst battle in Ramadi, he lost more buddies than he ever thought possible.

And the wounded? Villegas hesitates. Too many.

But cost – while personally tragic – is expected in war. "Every morning, you wake up with the best feeling," Villegas says, "because you never know what will happen, but you know you're paying the price for freedom."

I ask Villegas, now married and the father of five daughters, his thoughts about the anniversary. This time, he doesn't hesitate, "I want to thank all my brothers and sisters in arms.

During the first day of the Iraq invasion, Navy corpsmen tend to an Iraqi prisoner wounded as Marines took control of an oil-pumping station in southern Iraq. I didn't know at the time that my photos were the first to hit the wire of actual combat. All I was worried about was making deadline. FILE: MARK AVERY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Marlene Blaue of Garden Grove stands at her packing table set up in her dining room. On the table are items that she will pack and send off to troops overseas. On the tables behind her are stacks of books. One table has books for guys and the other for women. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Michael Villegas was a Marine who was in the first wave of troops into Iraq and then Baghdad. Now he is an auto mechanic in Tustin. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Michael Villegas was a Marine who was in the first wave of troops into Iraq and then Baghdad. Now he an auto mechanic in Tustin. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Navy corpsmen tend to a Marine wounded by a land mine on March 20, 2003, as Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, took control of an oil-pumping station in southern Iraq. These photos were the first combat photographs sent from Iraq. The Marine was evacuated home and was there to greet his fellow Marines when they came home to Camp Pendleton. Before and during the first night of the invasion, our primary worry was that Saddam Hussein might use chemical weapons. It wasn't until that Marine stepped on a land mine that I was reminded of all the other dangers Iraq might hold for us. FILE: MARK AVERY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Marine Capt. Blair Sokol, in this Sept. 2, 2008, photo, leads Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines from Camp Pendleton into the war in Iraq. Blair, who now holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, was considered hard-nosed by many Marines in Alpha Company, but they respected the hard training he had forced them to do before the war. Blair's wife, Jenny Sokol, is a columnist for the Orange County Register. FILE: MARK AVERY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Matt Fennell of Los Altos mans the turret of a Marine AAV as Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 heads north past a Iraqi traffic sign toward Baghdad on March 31, 2003. Before we invaded Iraq, some of the gung-ho Marines I was with wanted to know what I thought of the war. I told them that regardless of whether you believe the U.S. should be helping rid the world of Saddam Hussein or not, when all was said and done, we would end up realizing all the billions of dollars it would cost was not worth it. I think history has proven me right. FILE: MARK AVERY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Marines of Alpha Co. deploy under a pall of smoke near an oil-pumping station fire early on the morning of March 20, 2003, in southern Iraq. FILE: MARK AVERY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A U.S. Army vehicle from the 4th Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment, smashes a mosaic of Saddam Hussein outside the Iraqi Republican Guard Medina Division headquarters south of Baghdad, in this April 5, 2003, file photo. JOHN MOORE, AP
U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, after a search in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad, in this April 7, 2003, file photo. JOHN MOORE, AP
Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, in this April 9, 2003, file photo. JEROME DELAY, AP
An Iraqi man, right, looks at a U.S. Marine cover the face of a statue of Saddam Hussein with an American flag before toppling the statue downtown in Baghdad on April 9, 2003. Moments later the American flag was removed. JEROME DELAY, AP

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